Nevirapine Drug

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation on Tuesday pledged $1 million to help pay for a relatively cheap treatment used to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to newborns. Foundation spokeswoman Kelli O'Reilly said the announcement was prompted by a recent study that showed Nevirapine to effectively reduce prenatal transmissions of HIV by 47%. Unlike other treatments, Nevirapine is cheap--only $4 a treatment--and needs only to be given to the mother and child one time, she added.

Pregnant women who are HIV-positive and take the drug nevirapine during labor to prevent infecting their babies should wait until six months after delivery to resume taking the drug to avoid developing resistance, researchers reported this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The drug is increasingly used in the developing world to prevent HIV transmission to infants, but 42% of women who resume taking it within six months rapidly develop resistance.

Pregnant women who are HIV-positive and take the drug nevirapine during labor to prevent infecting their babies should wait until six months after delivery to resume taking the drug to avoid developing resistance, researchers reported this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The drug is increasingly used in the developing world to prevent HIV transmission to infants, but 42% of women who resume taking it within six months rapidly develop resistance.

The government announced Wednesday that it will challenge a court order to widen access to a key AIDS drug, saying the ruling may infringe on its constitutional right to determine policy. The Pretoria High Court ordered the government Friday to institute a comprehensive program to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and make the drug nevirapine available to HIV-positive pregnant women.

Pregnant HIV-positive women have no inherent right to an anti-AIDS drug that could save their babies from the disease, lawyers for the South African government argued. Activists have sued the state in a bid to force it to make nevirapine available to expectant mothers with HIV. Studies show it can reduce virus transmission from mother to child during labor by as much as 50%. The government argues that the drug's safety is unproven.

The government announced Wednesday that it will challenge a court order to widen access to a key AIDS drug, saying the ruling may infringe on its constitutional right to determine policy. The Pretoria High Court ordered the government Friday to institute a comprehensive program to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and make the drug nevirapine available to HIV-positive pregnant women.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first in a new class of AIDS medicines Monday, clearing patients to start adding the drug nevirapine to their treatment combinations this summer. Nevirapine, to be sold under the brand name Viramune, targets the same element of the human immunodeficiency virus that many older medicines do, inhibiting an enzyme key to HIV's reproduction.

Pregnant HIV-positive women have no inherent right to an anti-AIDS drug that could save their babies from the disease, lawyers for the South African government argued. Activists have sued the state in a bid to force it to make nevirapine available to expectant mothers with HIV. Studies show it can reduce virus transmission from mother to child during labor by as much as 50%. The government argues that the drug's safety is unproven.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation on Tuesday pledged $1 million to help pay for a relatively cheap treatment used to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to newborns. Foundation spokeswoman Kelli O'Reilly said the announcement was prompted by a recent study that showed Nevirapine to effectively reduce prenatal transmissions of HIV by 47%. Unlike other treatments, Nevirapine is cheap--only $4 a treatment--and needs only to be given to the mother and child one time, she added.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first in a new class of AIDS medicines Monday, clearing patients to start adding the drug nevirapine to their treatment combinations this summer. Nevirapine, to be sold under the brand name Viramune, targets the same element of the human immunodeficiency virus that many older medicines do, inhibiting an enzyme key to HIV's reproduction.